Just Plain Strange
neurontic | March 4, 2006You know those guys in high school who never learned to talk to girls? The ones who didn't bother with acne medication, sported glasses that appeared to have been passed down from a long-dead uncle, and knew an alarming amount of Star Trek trivia? Well, apparently, they've all grown up and become neuroscientists.
It's the only possible explanation. No one else could have come up with the idea of teaching a disembodied brain to fly an F-22 fighter jet. That's right, folks--a group of neuroscientists in Florida grew a brain in a Petri dish and taught it how to fly.
They extracted 25,000 neural…
neurontic | February 2, 2006What would you say if I told you that parasites are infesting the brains of half the human population? Or creepier still, that these little buggers have the power to control people's behavior, making some irascible, others docile, and still others certifiably insane? You'd probably say I'd watched one too many X-Files reruns--and you'd be right--but that doesn't change the fact that it could be true.
It's easy to dismiss parasites out of hand. Unless your intestines are playing host to a parasitic colony, they seem fairly benign. But it turns out stomach upset is one of their lesser powers.…